The Trouble with Dustin Johnson

I probably shouldn’t care about Dustin Johnson’s issues, but I do. When you watch a guy at the top of his game “take six months off,” it immediately makes you wonder what happened to him. How can you not?

In a very short time after Johnson made his announcement, golf.com put out a very juicy story that Johnson had failed a drug test, testing positive for cocaine. Wow. This story satisfied our need for an explanation of why such a talented golfer would take a break seemingly in the middle of the peak of his career. There was little corroborating evidence to provide support to this story, but because it satisfied a check box for most of us it seemed plausible.

There was circumstantial evidence available. For example people made comments that Paulina was a party girl in her past and it would have given Johnson the availability and means to get his hands on designer drugs and cocaine. This is pure conjecture and frankly not fair to Paulina. This was mostly based on her Instagram profile and news stories that she liked to have fun. There are no actual reports that she has even tried cocaine much less provide it to Dustin. Again though, this explanation fit with our storyline and many people felt this was more than plausible.

Dustin has come out now in a recent interview and says cocaine is not his problem. He says that he will not go into it, but it looks more to be alcohol related than cocaine related. He says he was not suspended by the PGA Tour and there is corroborating evidence for this statement because the PGA Tour stated the same.

So what do we make of all of this? Clearly Dustin had a problem. What it was actually doesn’t matter. He needed time off of work to go fix it. More power to him. He now has a young child at home and if something such as drugs or alcohol or anything that he needed help with was derailing him personally than he should take the time to fix it. To be better for himself and to be prepared for fatherhood.

Not handling situations like this has plagued golfers in the past. My case study for this is Anthony Kim’s recent disappearance from the golfing map. Again it is not fair to go purely off rumors, but there are many and often where there is smoke there is fire. He allegedly has a problem with controlling the amount of time he spends partying. Combined with a thumb injury a golfer who showed as much promise as anyone in the past five years, is gone. I cannot say if he is even playing golf as a weekend warrior anymore. Kim appears not to have managed his problem and his career appears over. I am hopeful that Dustin has watched this downfall and decided he must make a change before he himself drops off the map.

Dustin says in the article that he is ready to come back. This is good for golf. Dustin is a good golfer with a great young active image that the PGA Tour needs. He doesn’t always shave; he has a hip vibe, he’s fit, and according to my wife pretty good looking. Adding to this we all love a good comeback story. He was down, for whatever reason, and now he is on the comeback trail and ready to win and hopefully he does win. The media and golf fans love a good come back story.

My only advice for Dustin is to tell everyone what happened. He does not owe us this, so if he doesn’t want to he doesn’t have to. But it will enhance his comeback story. For us to know what was troubling him and how he overcame this will benefit us all. If it was alcohol that caused his problems than potentially one of the millions of people who suffer from alcohol addiction could benefit from hearing his story. Look at John Daly, he shares his story with us and it has made him more fans than guys who win many more golf tournaments than him. People root for big John because he proves himself through his problems to be an “every man” and this enders him to all us. So Dustin don’t be afraid to tell us your story.

Right now golf needs superstars like Dustin Johnson and I am hopeful he comes back and starts winning right away. I would hate to see him waste his talent. He has talent oozing from everywhere and is an asset to the PGA Tour marketing machine. Whatever his problem was we in the golf community will welcome him back with open arms. We are all looking forward to his success.

Photo credits: © Richard Chamberlain.